Tunesday 5th August, 2014: Telegram Sam - T. Rex

Let’s journey back in time, to 1972. My Dad’s side of the family would never forgive me should I not use one of these weekly musical opportunities to promote T. Rex; the band at the forefront – and eventual peak – of the ‘glam rock’ movement in the early to mid-1970s.

Glam rock as a term was coined to describe a unique hybrid of rock and pop music that developed in the U.K. around this time. Traits involved wearing outrageous clothes (by the standards of their day), make-ups and hairstyles. Platform shoes and glitter during live performances were not uncommon. This was a time when wearing flamboyant costumes and sporting camp visual styles were briefly accepted as cool for grown ‘straight’ men.

Brief is an appropriate word to describe not only this curious style of music, but also T. Rex frontman Marc Bolan’s life, which was tragically cut short at the age of 29. It’s somewhat hard to believe that this particular performance of Telegram Sam, one of the major hits when ‘glam rock’ was at its peak, took place only five years before that infamous car crash. There is no doubt that he was the star of the band, and perhaps the entire music scene at that time.

I’ve talked enough. I ask you now to imagine living forty (two) years ago. You’re a young man or woman. The world is a different place, as yet untainted by postmodernism, video games and Internet forums. This song is the kind of thing that people spend their evenings dancing to. This music scene will inevitably influence your teenage years. In a few years it will be dead, its main superstar along with it. You’ll only truly appreciate it with the benefit of hindsight. But for now, you don’t care about any of this. For now, you are young. 1972 style.

EGS